"…If
You're Ready (Come Go With Me)…"
Like
most people I came across the Staple Singers through their fabulous run of Stax
and Curtom sides in the Seventies (although their career stretched back to
Gospel roots in the early Fifties). This truly impressive double CD by Ace
Records of the UK (using their Kent Soul logo) is a thorough and deeply
satisfying retro for one of the most underrated Soul acts of all time. It even
includes four properly storming Previously Unreleased cuts and a chunky 28-page
fact-filled booklet (pretty much typical of Ace's quality).
UK
released September 2004 - "The Ultimate Staple Singers: A Family Affair
1955-1984" by THE STAPLE SINGERS on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEN2 240 (Barcode
029667224024) offers up 44 tracks across 2 CDs covering their record label
stays with Riverside, Vanguard, Epic, Stax, Curtom and Warner Brothers - with 4
previously unreleased thrown in. Disc 1 roughly deals with 1955 up to 1971
while Disc 2 covers everything after that. Here's a breakdown...
DISC
1: (76:07 minutes)
1.
Hammer And Nails
2.
Nobody's Fault But Mine
3.
Too Close
4.
Uncloudy Day
5.
Won't You Sit Down (Sit Down Servant)
6.
I Wish I Had Answered
7.
A Hard Rain's Gonna Fail
8.
Swing Low
9.
This May Be The Last Time
10.
For What It's Worth
11.
Be Careful Of The Stones You Throw
12.
Why (Am I Treated So Bad)
13.
It's Been A Change
14.
Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Tracks
1 to 14 feature their Gospel years with the Riverside, Vanguard and Epic
labels.
15.
The Ghetto
16.
Long Walk To DC
17.
God Bless The Children
18.
(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay
19.
The Gardener
20.
When Will We Be Paid For The Work We Did
21.
Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas
22.
John Henry [Pops Staples]
23.
You're Gonna Make Me Cry
24.
Solon Bushi
Tracks
15 to 24 touch on the Stax issues from 1968 to 1971
DISC
2: (78:14 minutes)
1.
I Have Learned To Do Without [Mavis Staples]
2.
Respect Yourself
3.
Tryin' Times [Pops Staples]
4.
Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha Na Boom Boom)
5.
I'll Take You There
6.
You've Got To Earn It
7.
The Only Time You Ever Say You Love me [Mavis Staples]
8.
Oh La De Da
9.
If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)
10.
City In The Sky
11.
I Got To Be Myself
12.
Touch A Hand, Make A Friend
13.
Trippin' On Your Love
14.
Let's Do It Again
15.
New Orleans
16.
Love Me, Love Me, Love Me
17.
I Honestly Love You
18.
Slippery People
19.
H-A-T-E (Don't Love Here Any More)
Of
the 20 singles they charted between 1971 and 1985 on the US Billboard R&B
charts (group and solo) - an impressive 14 are here (on Disc 2) - they are
"Heavy Make You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)" (1971), "You've Got To
Earn It" (1971), "Respect Yourself" (1971), "I'll Take You
There" (1972), "This World" (1972), "Oh La De Da"
(1972), "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)" (1973), "Touch A
Hand, Make A Friend" (1973), "City In The Sky" (1974),
"Let's Do It Again" (1975), "New Orleans" (1976),
"Love Me, Love Me, Love Me" (1976) and "Slippery People"
(1984). There's also the solo Mavis Staples torch ballad single "I Have
Learned To Do Without You" from 1970.
What
is even more shocking than the classiness of the released material (which still
manages to raise a smile to this day) is the quality of the unreleased stuff -
how have these gems remained in the can until now? First up on Disc 1 is the
Traditional song "John Henry" given a harmonica/guitar driven John
Lee Hooker boogie - it's nearest approximation is "Keep On Chooglin'"
by Creedence Clearwater Revival - fabulous stuff. Then there's "Tryin'
Times" on Disc 2 - also by POPS STAPLES (an unreleased alternate version
of Stax 0064). It was co-written by Donny Hathaway and Leroy Hutson and first
recorded by Roberta Flack in 1969 on her "First Take" album (Donny
did is own version of "Everything Is Everything in 1971). Pops goes with
the slower Flack interpretation and it's a socially aware bluesy winner. I've
played both tracks many times on the shuffle play in the record shop and
they've always elicited a customer response. Then on Disc 2 are "The Only
Time You Ever Say You Love Me" by MAVIS STAPLES (a gorgeous slow ballad)
and a version of "Oh La De Da" without the fake audience
participation that appeared on the Stax 0156 single. Both of these are superb
too. Not a lot of unreleased stuff I know, but man the quality is good...
The
mastering has been handled by DUNCAN COWELL at Sound Mastering (it's uniformly
excellent throughout - especially on the Fifties and Sixties material), while
the chunky 28-page colour booklet is jammed with pictured 45's and adverts and
has detailed and informative liner notes by noted Soul writer and aficionado
TONY ROUNCE. Between them - they've handled large numbers of Ace and Edsel soul
reissues throughout the 2000's - see a TAG above for each giving pictorial
displays of their work...
I
love The Staples Singers - "I'll Take You There" (lyrics above),
"If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)" and the wonderful number one
R'n'B hit "Let's Do It Again" - every song imbibed with their
lifelong creed of positive action, love and racial harmony - and music as a healer.
Quite possibly one of the best Kent-Soul reissues for me - a hugely impressive
listen from start to finish and it has great audio quality too...
"The
Ultimate Staples Singers - A Family Affair 1955-1984" is a fantastic
overview of their extraordinary career - buy it and thoroughly enjoy...
PS: see also reviews for the following -
"Be Altitude: Respect Yourself" (1972 album on Stax) now 2011
reissued and remastered with bonus tracks as part of the "Stax
Remasters" series, the "We'll Get Over" album reissue on CD, the
compilation "This Time Around" from 1981 with the fabulous
"Trippin' On Your Love" song and finally the 2015 Stax Box Set
"Faith & Grace" (4CDs) which boasts awesome audio but awkward
packaging...
